Makkon: @Radian: It might take some getting used to, but the benefit is pretty big. This is still sculpting the form of your character, but you get to tackle one thing aspect of the rendering at a time instead of all at once. Think of it like how you might composite a 3d render in a film


If you're not quite feeling this one, you might like the way my buddy Max Grecke paints. He still separates his lighting by layers, but the way he goes about it is still a lot closer to what you might be used to.
https://gumroad.com/maxgrecke
This one is like taking a black and white photo with one light source and adding color and other light sources over it. It does make it much easier to render softer or more ambient lighting conditions, but you have less control over material types and it'll always look like you colored in a BW image (because you did).

I demonstrate something similar (with my own approach) to that here:
http://makkon.tumblr.com/post/136246423103/steps-from-my-previous-painting-hope-someone
For me, however, I find this method a lot harder to control color and contrast between materials, which is something very important to me.

And example of the difference in results, first is Johannes's Method, last is Max's method


With Johannes, you get better color and it's easier to make changes, with Max you get more control over the shading and form but very little control over color.

Makkon: I wanted to make a step-by-step of how I render paintings sometimes. Sorry for image compression, the file would have been huge.

PLEASE REFER TO THIS ARTIST FOR MORE INFORMATION. He's a lot better at it than I am and he's a better teacher.
Johannes Helgeson
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Cu2OUPLsU

Makkon: Results of painting process

Makkon: @Radian: Also forgot to mention that Johannes eliminates the many-layers problem by making a "selections layer" where every part he'd need to have separated for masking is just a colorful, easy to select color with the magic wand. I haven't become too comfortable with that method yet, but it works great for him.


Also, all of these lighting layers get's flattened down to be painted over in the end, these layers seldom give you the final result you need. They give you a solid base to work from tremendously faster and easier than the traditional way I think. Give it a shot!

Makkon: @Radian: Matt's method is pretty useful, and it is the classic way of doing it. The way I paint is pretty far into left field, but I find it preferable compared to Matt's method that I used to do, wherein I'd find myself getting hung up on details too soon and it was hard to make large changes.
For example, if you need to change the color of your subject, you have a lot of work to do when it's all merged and you have colored directional or ambient light affecting the colors (like in most conditions). Hue-shift or overlay just doesn't cut it. If you want to change the direction of your lightsource, you might as well start over. The method I use lets me make pretty drastic changes to the subject at any time without the need for a full paintover or completely reworking entire sections of the image. It also naturally gives me great colors, so I don't have any guesswork.

For reference, my friend Johannes Helgeson paints using this method and gets very fast and consistently good results.
https://www.artstation.com/artist/helgesonart

Here's a tutorial about how he paints, pretty much identical to my process give or take a few layers. Warning, nudity:
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html

Makkon: @Radian: I end up merging layers to paint over later ;)
But yeah, give it a shot, it is a lot easier to process the lighting and rendering when you take it one aspect at a time.

Makkon: @Vidiotdragon: Normally I'm able to get back some of the expressiveness of the lines back when I'm in the paintover stage of rendering, but it was 5am by the time I got there on this one. Didn't work out the way I planned.

Makkon: Thanks so much, guys!

@Grape: Go ahead, I'm okay with it. You can remove the background layer and make stickers, even, if you want.
@angrybacteria: Thanks! This particular illustration was always with spears, the other drawings I've done could be painted but I didn't see the need. I think I might try rendering some of the others.
@Radian: Excluding lines, which I spent a lot of time on, painting took about 3 or 4 hours. Since it was 2 characters, that increases time a lot. The most tedious part was the flat colors, which I use to make selections and masks while I paint on the shadow/light layers. That's why there's so many separated layers for body parts, and why they're labeled (so I can find them) it just makes painting easier and faster.

Waking up today, I realize that a PSD is cool to look through but doesn't exactly explain much. I can make a quick step-by-step if anyone is interested.

Makkon: I should have finished this long before I got tired of it. Now there's so many things I hate about it.
I painted this specifically to share the PSD. I have most layers labeled, except for the lines layers. Let me know if you have any questions.
The file is 420mb. What luck!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/w9ff5xcsmw14jaa/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2.zip

Makkon: I was sort of expecting to be able to upload 2 images in one post, but this works too I guess.

I much prefer the lines over the actual painting, the character's faces still retain clear shapes.

Makkon: Good proportions! Width of the hips is about right, but yeah mind the gap. :)
Cute post too!

Makkon: I agree with the featured request.

Makkon: @Radian: That may be a matter of preference, I like the style and forcefulness of this one more. It has character to it, it's more refined, and the shape language is consistent with Quill-Weave next to her. I appreciate your feedback, though.
Here's the old one in case you still wanted it and for comparrison:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5301613/2016/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2_nude.png

Makkon: I fixed Katia's weird face and asked a mod to update it. :)

Makkon: 10/10 adorbs, would interview with local newspaper

Makkon: @Radian: Well I mean, you don't have to draw an outfit over them to color it. Color them nude! Make a nude OC recolor!
@Riddle78: That particular spear is badass and I might change this one now after having seen it. What she has now is just a spear with a crossguard though.
@Vidiotdragon: I tried looking those names up but just got really mixed results on google. Who are they?

If I posted up more lineart without colors, would people be interested in coloring them? They don't all have to be nude. :S

Makkon: I suspect he ran into her, again, and tried to rob her a second time. He's optimistic, but maybe not the best judge of character.

Makkon: This is a progress shot of a newer piece I'm working on. I'm sharing it now (with some cleaned up anatomy) because I want to see people's reactions, I want people to color it and draw their own outfits over it, and I want the mods to have a chance to work on more concrete rules about nudity and what is acceptable content on the fanart page.

Makkon: Personally I think it makes the drawing a bit messy and hard to read, but stick to your guns and experiment. Good stuff.

Makkon: Do it! Cut his head off!

Makkon: This feels like a natural progression.

Makkon: @makingfailure: Thanks man! I'm just glad the blade ended up being just long enough to actually make a clean cut, wasn't paying attention there.
@ThatGuyWithAKhajiitWaifu: Now I have a long TES wiki entry to read. Good stuff.
@SameButDifferent: I'm curious about which aspects of the drawing is causing which reaction.
@Filthypaladin: Thanks dude! Your drawings here are really cute.

Makkon: No worries, I wouldn't for Katia to kill this guy, he's not particularly evil or harmful. It might be fun to show her just hanging out with some aedra rather than just killing everything.

Makkon: @AMKitsune: Oh no need to be worried, I just looked up an anatomical neck cross section. You can look up a cross section of nearly any body part you can imagine from the standard 3 axis. Hence why the cut looks so clean as opposed to uneven.

Makkon:

Makkon: Hey man, this is rad! This is some bonafide official_badass material. No worries about the severed head of a god, it's not a requirement, just a fun theme to explore. Keep painting, it only gets easier the more you do it.

Makkon: I, uh. I might have overdone the blood. Kaz thinks it's okay. I should probably start exploring other styles other than this one.

Makkon: Hope you don't mind, my new entry kinda ended up being, like, almost exactly the same pose :(

Makkon: @Geravind: Yeah, I see it. I've addressed this in later drawings. Thanks :)

Makkon: This makes me so happy. I love it! And I love the idea of cutting through the pantheon of gods via decapitation. I want to keep the heads rolling!

Makkon: Kaz gave me some feedback on a pose.

Makkon: @Radian: She doesn't particularly have to be happy, or even any or all of those things listed. They are merely examples to help illustrate the intent of the challenge. If you draw her at level 50 and she is badass but looks unhappy, then draw it! She just needs to be powerful, or at the very least look capable.

@KillerfishSG: Doooo eeeeetttt.

Makkon: @Radian: No limitation to how many you can draw, post them all! Varying levels of badassery is acceptable.

This challenge is merely an observation of the current trend of the fanart page, just trying to get the community more pumped an involved as we wait for the update.

Makkon: @Arcsome: You've got a few pieces that already fit the bill, looking forward to your entry!

Makkon: I wanted to draw this to also provide some clarification.

Katia in the comic, her current form, think of her as a level 2. Now imagine her at level 70. I challenged you to draw her with her power levels over 9000. Draw her de-spining an ancient dragon by punching it in the dick. Draw her wielding the legendary Daedric Greatsword of "Fuck You And Your Peasant Army". Draw her as the conquering hero that Tamriel needs, not the hero it deserves. Draw her as the strong, confident woman that she could one day be in the infinite permutations of spacetime, not as she is now. Draw Katia the way she can't see herself. Draw Katia happy being herself.

Makkon: @Armored-Struggle-Wagon: I dunno, this looks more like the Katia as she is now than the Katia that could be. I'll put up a clarification.
Good pixel art though.

Makkon: @POMA my intent is for Katia, as she is particularly the biggest loser in cannon.

Makkon: @tronn Kickass is also acceptable.

Makkon: Larger textless version so you can see all the smudges and problems.

Makkon: Not a contest, only a challenge. Only rule is that her primary attribute is badassery or at least competency. Also clothed.

Makkon: There are 2 box sizes, depending on what you get, and both boxes have very different designs.

Makkon: This is great. Very well drawn, and I love the cloak colors applied to hip clothing.

Makkon: I painted the boxes. That's my claim to fame for the month.

Makkon: This is overwhelmingly cute

Makkon: I think this is rather well inked and shaded. You have a knack for that. There's some general proportional issues that have been mentioned, but that stuff comes with practice.

Makkon: This made me smile. :)

Makkon: This is super cute!

Makkon: Katia looks god with a neck. The execution isn't perfect, but this has me sold. Too late for Kaz to really change the model, though.

Makkon: This is a really adorable style!

Makkon: I don't know what some viewer's internet diet consists of here, but be real. That is nudity, by definition. Yes, it is sexual in nature. There's no denying that it is objectively a naked cat woman being shown in an intentional angle and pose wanting to get a specific response out of people. Considering all that, I do think this has the right to exist. Even if it's not particularly tasteful, it does have merit. Does it belong here? Eh, probably not, that's ultimately up to the mods.